THE TIPSTER
MUTTERINGS of further intervention by the Bank of Japan are being put to the test by the market, which is betting on the central bank being unable to stem the tide of yen appreciation.
There was a temporary weakening back towards the ¥84.60 level against the US dollar following the better-than-expected consumer confidence numbers. However, this area of former support between ¥84.50 and ¥85 should now be seen by FX traders as an ideal opportunity to sell ahead of a further grind lower. Spread Co offers a spread on US dollar-Japanese yen of ¥84-¥84.33.
While the dollar might be struggling against the yen, it is not doing any better against the Swiss franc. Dollar-Swissie yesterday broke through the SFr1.2000 level for the first time since 15 January and came to within 20 points of the year’s low of SFr1.0132. If this low gives way, then we may well see a complete capitulation in the pair – fuelled by stop-loss selling – taking it all the way down to parity. But once we get to SFr1, traders should expect a bounce. Spread Co offers SFr1.0147-SFr1.015.
Sterling has not performed well against the Swiss franc either over the past 24 hours, breaking below 18-month lows against the safe-haven currency at SFr1.5805. It looks set to test the 2008 low at SFr 1.5125.
And while the dollar is losing ground against most other currencies, the pound could well test support at $1.5320. A break here could see more falls to $1.5115. CMC Market is offering sterling-Swiss franc at SFr1.5670-SFr1.5678 and sterling-dollar at $1.5400-$1.5403.
Sweden’s central bank is announcing its monthly monetary policy decision on Thursday and the market expects a hike of 25 basis points to 0.75 per cent. This should boost the Swedish krona against the euro. IG Index is offering SKr9.3595-SKr9.3655 on euro-krona.